James, shirtless, blameless He was like Nancy Kerrigan out there. Or Chris Farley in that figure skating skit from Saturday Night Live.
I thought they'd grill him on his team quitting, on the defense allowing a billion yards and 41 points, on being 1-5 and virtually eliminated from the playoffs.
Nope. He got to talk about how good the special teams were and how hard they played to get back into the game against the New York Giants Monday night.
Maybe they feel bad because Phillips is sure to be fired. Maybe they're pansies. Maybe.
In another story, Bradie James, the middle linebacker who has avoided criticism the past four years because he "plays hard" had some comments to the media about the media.
Said James:
“Guys have gotten into a rut, to be honest with you. It’s a lot of negativity and a lot of criticism and people don’t respond too well to criticism, no way, shape, form or fashion about it. But the way you play, criticism sometimes is warranted, and that’s what we have to understand.”
Well, I guess the "rut" James refers to is losing and all that entails: penalties, missed tackles, miss coverage, miss blocked, turnovers and mistakes. Disappointed in James here. He seems like a stand-up guy that accepts responsibility no matter what. Guess not. Guess losing turns everyone into animals.
According to Tim McMahon of the World Wide Leader in a bit of editorializing, "There are players in that locker room who are so sensitive that they allow criticism from the media to affect their performance."
That is amazing. It's amazing that there are athletes that allow this to happen negatively. It's surprising that players pay attention to the media. Most of the time, coaches and players treat media like idiots. So I'm supposed to believe that Mike Jenkins is picking up The Dallas Morning News and reading the letters to the editor.
I guess it happens, but it's inconceivable that they're listening to "Murray from Forney." Nut up guys.
